Samsung’s OTA update for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has gone live, with the 188MB software now being offered to users of the Honeycomb slate. The new firmware brings with it Samsung’s own TouchWiz UI for tablets, upgrading the home screen with various new panes and a compact task-launcher for common apps.

There’s also a version of Swype for tablets along for the ride, together with mobile printing and several enterprise features to try to encourage businesses to consider the Tab 10.1 too. Full details of what’s in the update are here.

It’s worth noting, however, that once you’ve installed the update you won’t be able to remove it. Samsung has confirmed that it’s a permanent thing, with no roll-back option, so if you’re not sure whether you’d prefer to keep the stock Honeycomb UI – or are wary of potential bugs – then you might want to hold off until the first bug reports come in. Everyone else, hit that Update button in the Galaxy Tab 10.1’s settings page to get the new firmware.

20 COMMENTS

  2. Beware! I just tried the update on my Tab and it went through the whole process and started to reboot.  It then went into a reboot loop.  I contacted Samsung Tech support by chat and they had me force a hard reboot (which I had alrready tried).  That didn’t work, so my Tab is bricked.  They want me to send it in becasueand a repair will take two weeks.I know there has to be another way to handle this, but they won’t provide any more information.

    • Exact same thing for me – “Sorry, you have to send it in”.  It shows an error when I’m in the grub/manual boot screen but they don’t have any way to troubleshoot it other than delete all user data.  

      I just bought it – I can’t return it because I bought it in a different state and the store is 1700 miles away.

      • damn.  sorry to hear that…   i think you’re worse off than me.  my condolences.

    • Update: I just talked to a higher level at Samsung support.  He knew what I was talking about as soon as I started to explain what happened.  He said that the new upgrade bricking the Tab is “our number 1 problem right now,” and said that the only thing to do is to send it in so they can reflash it with the new software. It should take about two weeks to get back.  I pushed him on whether there was anyway to do it without sending it in and he said there were ways for the user to flash it the ROM, but it would void the warranty and he couldn’t give me any information on where to find files to do it.

      My advice is to wait a few days before upgrading it to see if this is a real problem or I’m just one of the unlucky few.

      • Thanks for the info. I just tried to download the update, and the problem is STILL there. My tablet does nothing but give me horizontal lines.

        I always wait a couple of weeks to download updates (if at all) and can see that I got the “rotten egg” too. I wish I could return it, but have way too much info stored in it already. I guess that I’ll be sending it back repair….

      • Thanks for the info. I just tried to download the update, and the problem is STILL there. My tablet does nothing but give me horizontal lines.

        I always wait a couple of weeks to download updates (if at all) and can see that I got the “rotten egg” too. I wish I could return it, but have way too much info stored in it already. I guess that I’ll be sending it back repair….

  3. Beware! I just tried the update on my Tab and it went through the whole process and started to reboot.  It then went into a reboot loop.  I contacted Samsung Tech support by chat and they had me force a hard reboot (which I had alrready tried).  That didn’t work, so my Tab is bricked.  They want me to send it in becasueand a repair will take two weeks.I know there has to be another way to handle this, but they won’t provide any more information.

  4. same here.  updated and now all i get is a nice fuzzy vibrantly colored useless display.  (ooh, but those colors are so vibrant! )

    i don’t want to wait 2 weeks for it?  i’m tempted to deal with it myself… but the only thing holding me back is the fact that i don’t have time to deal with it.  

    this sux.  i’m gonna hold off for a few days and watch for word of some official fix.  sounds like they know they’ve got a serious problem ( “our number 1 problem right now,” ), so i hope they get a fix / workaround out soon. 

  5. I’m really disappointed. This update has slowed down my tab significantly without adding enough benefits to weigh up for it. I like the print screen option, but the new layout of the email-app and widget really sucks. But as I said, this update has killed the lag-free and smooth experience of the native aneroid version.

  6. biggest disappointment I’ve had in a long time this update sucks.  causes eye strain from all of the grey or white menus and borders especially in low light.  seems laggy now too.  way to go samsung now I have to throw it away and buy a xoom 🙁  last time I buy your products

  8. Having not seen all these problems, I just tried to do the update. It did download, but fortunantly, would not install. So, I am still at original version (now rooted). I just made sure auto-update is unchecked.

  9. now my galaxy won’t even boot up stuck on 13% pushed on me, but got excited and said OK.  don’t do it

    how do I get back to where i was…?  calling Samsung… yikkes?

  11. Updated and regret it. Many issues including it will no longer connect with our exchange server for email. Not sure where to turn for help……

  12. I did the mistake of updating my tablet 10.1 and it is now not working properly with a lot of bugs. Hope sumsung solve this problem soom. For others my advice is do not update

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